Seeking Solitude
by Mariko Azrael
Summary: [PRTF] After her confrontation with Fatcatfish, Katie has a talk with Jen about the more subtle change in her personality. [Katie X Jen, spoilers for up to 'Jen's Revenge']


Disclaimer: Not mine

Notes: Spoilers for up to 'Jen's Revenge'. I'm not too happy with how this turned out, but then again, I'm not too happy with anything I write, so um. Yeah.

--

Sometimes Katie wondered if she was the only one who noticed the change in Jen.

Although she couldn't really blame them if they hadn't. After all, Jen had changed so much since they'd followed Ransik to the year 2001 some changes were bound to be more noticeable than others, the best example probably being when she'd tried to kill an escaped prisoner… twice. Inbetween that and nearly getting herself killed when she took on Ransik alone, it wasn't too much of a surprise that the other change in Jen had gone unnoticed even by Jen herself.

Jen had always been self-sufficient and borderline obsessed with work… but she'd never go off by herself like that before. The Jen before Alex's death (the Jen Katie knew was still in there, somewhere) would have known that it was a stupid idea, would have had Trip at least look over Fatcatfish's message before she walked into a trap-- and she would have had no problems with recruiting Wes. And yeah, okay, Wes hadn't handled himself in the most mature manner ever (not to mention just looking at him had to hurt Jen in ways Katie hoped she would never have to understand), but… her Jen would have found a way to make it work.

Someone was going to have to do something. But Lucas was too busy flirting with the women of this time to be much help, and while Trip had a lot of good points (even if he himself wasn't aware of said good points), confrontation was not one of them. Wes had given it a shot… but after what happened, he probably didn't want to try it again right away.

So it was up to Katie to try and get the old Jen back.

Sure enough, she found Jen training in the park. Katie watched her as worked. Even if she couldn't approve of Jen's behavior as of late, she could appreciate the skill and power in her moves. Finally, when Jen was leaning against the tree trunk and trying to catch her breath, Katie approached her.

"So, I hear you kicked Wes's butt day before yesterday."

Suddenly, Katie found herself blocking a punch from Jen that had been aimed at her head. In no mood to fight this early in the morning but not really wanting a fist in her face either, Katie found an opening and sent Jen stumbling back a couple of feet.

Katie used this to put some distance between her and their team leader who **apparently** wasn't done with her training just yet. "Calm down, I come in peace!" Katie assured her, hands held up in front of her.

Jen's body relaxed, but her face was still hard. "Just keeping you on your toes." She fell silent as she sat down, back against the tree. It didn't take Katie too long to realize that the silence was supposed to be her cue to leave Jen alone.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to scare me off, Jen."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Katie made a frustrated sound as she sat down next to Jen. "You're a detective. Figure it out." 

She had known Jen long enough to know that the twitch around her lips meant she was trying to keep her feelings bottled up again. "I promised Alex I'd stop Ransik."

Katie bit her lip as the memories of Alex's last battle washed over her. She knew better than to think that she could even have a vague idea of what losing the love of your life felt like… but she couldn't let that stop her.

"You will. But Jen, you have to stop with the whole solitude thing."

Jen frowned at her. "I lead and live with a five person team. That's about as far away from solitude as you can get, Katie." 

"You train all morning, you work all day, and you go over files all night. The only time I see you anymore is when you're morphed."

Katie prepared herself for more arguing… and was surprised when Jen gave her a suddenly vulnerable look instead as she played with the Velcro on her left glove. "It was my last promise to him. I have to keep it."

"Once again, you will." Katie gave her a nudge. "But try to remember we're here to help you with that, okay?"

Jen gave her something that was sort of like a grin. "I'll keep that in mind." She stood up. "I'm going to head back-- you coming with?"

Katie waved a hand at her. "Nah. I think I'll enjoy the sunshine for a bit."

The sort of grin widened. "You sure that **you're** not the one seeking solitude now?"

"Me? Never."

Katie watched her again as Jen walked away… and there seemed to be a subtle change in her movement. She was a little faster, a little lighter. It wasn't much, and if Katie didn't know what to look for she doubted even she would have noticed it, but it was there.

And she supposed for now that it would have to do.


End file.
